Kris Debref

Founder and Executive Director

Kris is the founder and Executive Director of Enjojo Wildlife Foundation and is a passionate conservationist. Her work with animals has been a lifelong pursuit, with the past twelve years of her experience being specifically focused in leading & implementing governance, peace building & community projects in non-governmental organizations across multiple African countries, nine of which were spent in South Sudan.  She has lived, worked and travelled in over 30 African countries, but fell in love with Uganda, where she established  Enjojo Lodge, an eco-lodge in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park.    

Collins Apuoyo

Director

 Collins is an international development specialist with a focus on agriculture and environmental conservation. He is a social entrepreneur and an Ashoka Fellow. He is an advocate for environmental conservation and has won many awards in his efforts to protect the living environment. Collins is currently involved in managing some large development projects in Uganda. He brings to the Board a unique approach to development programming that ensure sustainability for activities of the Foundation.

Umar Turyakira

Director

Umar Turyakira started his career as a Uganda Wildlife Authority Ranger in Bwindi National Park

He spent  7 years as a security advisor and logistics officer in an international NGO  in South Sudan working with peacebuilding and capacity building for Local Councils. 

As Umar’s hometown is close to Ishasha, he has the best understanding of the local culture and how to overcome the challenges to create harmonious living between humans and animals

Vincent Opyene

Board Member

Vincent is an advocate of the High of Uganda. He started his career in conservation as an investigator, a specialized wildlife crime prosecutor and a legal manager with Uganda Wildlife Authority.

He is a wildlife crime lawyer and anti-corruption activist, founder and CEO OF Natural Resource Conservation Network and Opyene & Company Advocates, and Chairperson  of Rhino Fund Uganda.

Vincent won two awards in the conservation of wildlife being the prestigious Tusk Award for conservation in Africa and Ministry of wildlife Tourism and Antiquities award for his contribution in the conservation of wildlife in Uganda.

We would like to give a future to orphaned baby elephants and other animals in need and set up a sanctuary with a rescue and rehabilitation program.

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The purpose is to reintroduce the rescued animals back into the wild when they are ready.

We are aiming to establish a mobile veterinary unit to provide lifesaving support to wildlife in emergency situations  The community bordering the Park will be trained and employed as animal caretakers.  

We aim to establish a first aid community health centre and equip it with the necessary tools to provide basic health care and life skills to the communities surrounding the park.

Creating a culture of conservation among the youth is important for the sustainability of all conservation efforts.

 Through environmental education programs, we are sensitising the youth in the schools on wildlife conservation and the need to preserve ecosystems. 

The creation of wildlife conservation clubs for the youth will be instrumental to have a forum of constant interaction with them.

Uganda, with a population growth of 3.3% per year, has a continuous need for energy for years to come. People tresspass into the park to cut trees, to look for firewood and to burn charcoal for cooking energy.

  In order to reduce household dependence on firewood, we train women in the construction of energy-saving clay stoves.

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We promote tree planting and agroforestry and are establishing a tree nursery as a continuous source of seedlings.

It is critical for long term community engagement in the protection of African wildlife to implement a conservation program that improves the livelihoods of the local people through the development of environmentally friendly income-generating activities, such as craft making, bee-keeping, and other little enterprises such as the production of soaps.

By empowering the community and in particular the women, we hope to transform human-wildlife conflict into peaceful harmonious living between people and animals

As human populations expand, animals and humans are increasingly coming into conflict over land and water. Elephants are often raiding the crops in the community while predators may prey on livestock.

This results in a reduced tolerance of the community towards wildlife, which sometimes leads to retaliatory measures.

We capacitate communities to prevent and reduce levels of conflict, to support them in finding alternative solutions so as to ensure the safety of both people and wildlife.

We work with government conservation agencies and vetted partners to strengthen community relationships and to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade through the creation of community scout groups to supplement the government rangers and through the establishment of a community training centre to conduct anti-poaching sensitisation programs.